I’ve read a few different blogs where the blogger lays out their typical day so readers can understand what all goes into being a full-time employee and a blogger.
Before I started my blog, I’d thought about starting a blog several times before, but I couldn’t ever decide on a niche to focus on. I also thought my life was too boring and that I’d run out of material. Well, I’ve been at this since late December, so almost 7 months, and I haven’t had much trouble finding things to write about. In fact, I publish 5 days a week (generally) and I still have a queue full of post ideas and a whole other list too. In fact, I sometimes have trouble picking what to write about because the list is so extensive and it’s hard to narrow it down. Plus, as things happen in my life that affect my finances, I want to talk about them in a timely manner.
I still think my life is relatively boring.
Here is my typical day schedule for during the week:
6:00am-6:15am: Wake Up, get ready for a walk
6:15am-7:00am: Walk one of my dogs (I rotate them each day)
7:00am-8:00am: Get ready and go to work
8:00am-12:00pm: Work at work, blog during my breaks
12:00pm-1:00pm: Lunch at home, usually with my dad or brother, check in with my blog, blog reading
1:00pm-5:00pm: Work at work, blog during my breaks
5:00pm-5:15pm: Get ready for Crossfit
5:15pm-6:15pm: Warm up, Workout, Cool down
6:15pm-10:00pm: Shower, Supper, Household chores/yard work/volunteer meeting/home business appointments/blogging
10:00pm-10:30pm: Wind down, get ready for bed
10:30pm-6:00am – Sleep
I know, I know. I probably could cut down on the sleep time, but I am one of those people who seriously doesn’t function on little sleep. Also, I don’t workout everyday. On the days I don’t workout my evening from 5:00pm-10:00pm is Supper, Shower, Household chores/yard work/volunteer meeting/home business appointments/blogging
Here’s my weekend:
Saturday
7:30am-8:30am: Breakfast, Get ready for weekend job
8:30am-3:00pm: Work at weekend job
3:00pm-10:o00pm: Household chores/yard work/home business appointments/blogging, Supper
10:00pm-10:30pm: Wind down, get ready for bed
10:30pm-6:00am – Sleep
Sunday
7:30am-8:30am: Breakfast, Household chores/home business paperwork, etc
8:30am-4:00pm: Spend time with family/Household chores/yard work/blogging/possibly relaxing (usually only relaxing once/month)
4:00pm-7:00pm: Clean at my office
7:00pm-10:00pm: Supper, Household chores/yard work/family time/blogging/possibly relaxing
10:00pm-10:30pm: Wind down, get ready for bed
10:30pm-6:00am – Sleep
The weekend schedule varies a little more than the weekday schedule as far as timing. Like, I occasionally work 2-8pm at my weekend job on Saturday instead, so the activities listed for Saturday would be flip-flopped. But this is my basic schedule during a typical day. I don’t have a lot of down time and that’s something I’d like to change in the near future. I don’t know how much longer I can keep the pace and balance all of my activities and jobs.
What’s your typical day look like? In your opinion, what can go from my schedule?
30 Comments
Wow, that is a lot of work you’re doing there Kayla! Well done for managing to juggle your time to fit everything in. My schedule is pretty similar except for the fact that my ‘work’ tasks are all done from home which is a good thing. I don’t have any time to work out but I do need to make time for that.
You’re doing amazing, I don’t think you should cut back on your sleep though! 🙂
Thanks Hayley! I am struggling to find some balance right now. I really need to find some “me” time to have a bit more regularly.
I never have typical days expect when I wake up and go to bed, which is similar to your time. I can’t function on little sleep either. I need a good solid 8 to function!
Me too! If I don’t get around 8 I’m a big grumpy mess to deal with!
Yup, you’re definitely busy! I remember when I was that busy…working full time and blogging was tough, but keep at it…you’ll make it out of the sludge! In the end it’s so worth spending every extra waking second you have on blogging!
I hear you on that it will pay off eventually, but I do feel a bit burned out from “burning the candle at both ends”. I need to find at least a little bit of down time to enjoy myself on a more regular basis.
I love reading these type of posts. Thanks for sharing!
I am the same way with sleep!
Thanks Kara! I’m glad I’m not the only one who needs those (about) 8 hours of sleep. Some of my friends IRL just don’t get it and tease me about going to bed “so early”.
Hi Kayla! I think, you definitely shouldn’t cut down on sleep. I work weird hours and so sometimes cutting down on sleep is the only way to go to join some social events. It fires back every time!!
My usual day (Mon to Sat) goes like: Getting up at 1:00, get ready for work, work from 2:00 till about 9:00, go home, eat something, make important phonecalls if necessary, sleep from about 10:00/11:00 till 4:00 p.m., 4:00-9:00 p.m. household chores, incl. shopping, cooking, supper, sometimes volunteer work, sometimes meeting friends/hanging out with boyfriend, 9:00pm.-9:30 p.m. wind down for bed, 9:30 p.m.-1:00 a.m. sleep (sometimes later!). I don’t have my free time (i.e. no worktime) scheduled, but there’s quite often something coming up like a volunteer event or a birthday party or some other socially important activity with family or friends I don’t want to miss. I’m not really that into sports, but do lengthy walks or “park-sports” (like frisbee, badminton, ping pong, whatever) several times a week (more than one hour at a time), also I try to cook from scratch every day (though I can take turns with bf!) Sunday is free! (family/friends/volunteer activity/do plain nothing)
I’m not in debt but earn very little at the moment (because my work at the moment is not fully paid as it’s part of an apprenticeship), so in order to reasonably save some money I would have to take another job. But I don’t – I think I need my unscheduled lazy time.
I wondered if you really don’t walk your dogs more often (at the weekends?!).
I’d try to get more relax time – or time that feels like relaxing – maybe through combining fun and necessary activities: making suppers in batch with a friend or family member and freezing them once a week/ have grocery shopping dates / do sports with friends / family member and eat together afterwards / catch up with a friend or do phone calls while walking your dog / whatever works out for you.
But if your days feel good to you, I wouldn’t change that schedule! No matter what others think about it!
Yes, I really only walk my dogs M-F. They are both very small and can get a reasonable amount of exercise from the walks plus being out in the backyard for 2-3 hours each evening (while I’m doing household chores or yard work). I do play fetch with them some while I’m doing my yard work and they “rough house” together, burning off a good bit of energy that way too. Finding more time for relaxing by combining activities sounds like a fairly good idea, though ideally I’d really like to have a bit of time to seriously do nothing but watch TV or read. 🙂
wow you are so busy yet you manage to blog at least 5 times a week. I love it. I always check out for new posts from you =)
Thanks Michelle! I’m glad to know you enjoy my posts. I truly love writing and it doesn’t take me long to write my posts. Writing has always been a gift of mine. In school I’d crank out my papers in about 1-2 hours (unless they were super extensive requiring a TON of research) and my teachers would always say “Wow! I can tell you put a lot of time into this”. 🙂
I don’t blame you for needing to sleep, especially with waking up at 6 and having such a jam-packed day. My boyfriend wakes up at 5:30 and lately has been going to sleep at 11, or later, and he’s been struggling not to fall asleep at work!
Have you tried prioritizing what’s most important to you with all your jobs and volunteering? I know you want to make as much as possible to get rid of debt, but sometimes the strain it puts on you isn’t worth it. Unfortunately, it seems like most people tend to wake up earlier or stay up later to get in extra time, so you’re always sacrificing. “Me” time is certainly important!
I’m seriously considering dropping my weekend job after my furniture loan is paid off in September. I guess we’ll see when the time gets closer 🙂
I hadn’t realised how time consuming running a blog was until I’d seen it written out like that. I thought wow you work on your blog everyday but truth is so do I really. I find myself checking in a few times a day. Whether it be fixing or adding something or even commenting.
I do check in several times a day, plus I put in time in the evenings (not ever evening but still). Sometimes it’s writing, commenting, fixing things, other times its emails, networking, reading and commenting on other blogs, etc.
Wow that’s a jam packed day. If I don’t get a full 8 hours of sleep I’m a total grouch. It’s one area I can never cut back on. Blogging is a ton of work. I had no idea how much work until I started a blog myself.
I know! I never thought about all the work that goes into a blog. I thought you could just do a bit of writing here and there and that was it. Boy was I wrong! 🙂
I’ve always said, I don’t know how you do it Kayla. For me, posting twice a week is all I can manage. I think it’s great that you are fitting your exercise in. That is one area that I have been slacking off on since I started blogging and I don’t feel good about it. I need my sleep too and if I get behind I’m not able to sleep in on the weekend because I wake up at my normal time. Sometimes, but rarely, I will take an afternoon nap on the weekend! Going to check your guest post out now! 😉
Thanks Debs! I take that as a compliment. Honestly, I keep up this schedule pretty well but then every 3-4 weeks, I totally crash! I take a whole Sunday and do absolutely nothing because I’m so tired and burned out. I think if I balanced things a bit better I’d be able to be ok with just a couple hours here and there rather than a total crash every 3 weeks.
You are busy! Make sure you take some time for yourself so you don’t burn out.
It is hard to find that time. I am working on it and considering dropping a couple things to make more time for “me”.
Haha – don’t feel bad for sleeping “too much”. When I was working, I’d be in bed by 10:30 and up at 7:30. Now that I’m off, it’s more like bed at midnight and up at 10. 😉
Glad I’m not the only one who needs the full 8 hours of sleep. 🙂
I don’t think you need to cut down the sleep at all! I am also impressed with how little time you spend commuting 🙂 but that’s probably me still complaining about living in a big city. 😉 I spend at least 1 hour, closer to 1.75 hours travelling to work each day.
My commute to work is about 6 minutes. 🙂 That’s why I can come home for lunch and let my dogs out. 🙂
What a busy schedule! It’s nice you can manage it all especially when you blog. Although you have many things to do, you can still write a very good blog. I often visited your blog and I feel great reading your articles. Looking forward to read more of you. 🙂
Thanks Teffany! I’m glad you like my blog. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Looks like a very full schedule, Kayla. I go to bed right after the girls do. 🙂 Of course, I actually get up at 4:45 AM to fit in my workout before they are up and need Mom! I am very guilty of creating jam-packed schedules myself. Your second job definitely eats into your me time on the weekend, but I don’t know if your budget can withstand fewer hours or no second job.
Luckily, I don’t “count on” my second job’s income. I don’t include it at all when I do my budgeting. Then however much I bring in from that (usually about $150-250/month, depending on the month) is “extra”. Admittedly, I do use some of this “extra” for things like eating out, going out with friends, funding my quilting projects, getting my hair cut, etc. Without this “extra” I would have to significantly cut down on these activities. I do also use some of the “extra” to make additional payments and savings. I am considering quitting my weekend job, but still keeping up with my home based business and my “cleaning gig” at my office, once a couple more debts are paid off. Only time will tell, but I am getting rather burned out from the lack of downtime.